Bailouts, Stimulus Were ‘Essential,’ White House’s Axelrod Says

Bloomberg reports:

Bailouts of the U.S. banking and auto industries and the $787 billion economic stimulus were needed to skirt an economic meltdown even as polls suggest the policies are unpopular, said David Axelrod, a senior White House adviser.

“Some of those policies were ones that nobody wanted to undertake but were essential,” Axelrod said today on ABC’s “This Week” program. “But our responsibility was to make sure the economy didn’t tip into a second Great Depression. I have no regrets about that.”